Heat exchanger



Jan. 21, 1958 M. F. PETERS HEAT EXCHANGER Filed Jan. 18. 1955 INVENTOR. Me] Vfl/e F Pefers /11 7 rafa/wry United States Patent HEAT EXCHANGER Melville F. Peters, Livingston, N. J.

Application January 18, 1955, Serial No. 482,472

2 Claims. (Cl. 257-241) This invention relates to heat exchange, and particularly to flexible assemblies that can be associated with an object to be controlled in such a manner as to exercise such control by means of the tlow of fluid through at least a portion of the ilexible assembly.

In many power plant installations it is necessary to cool the exhaust pipes or to absorb a portion of the heat which is dissipated by the pipes with a cooling system, so as to eliminate the possibility of burning the personnel or overheating the compartment. When space is available and the weight of the cooling system is not important, water can be circulated through'a jacket placed around the object. If the unit is subjected to vibration the jacket must be reinforced so that it has a high factor of safety, since the escape of fluid from the system could be disastrous. When weight and space are both limited, it is often impractical to use a jacketed cooling system and it is necessary to rely upon baffles and plates to reect the radiation and guide the convection currents of air away from the personnel. There are conditions, however, where the quantity of heat which must be removed from the object is so great that a cooling uid must be used to remove the heat from the compartment, and it is therefore the rst object of the invention to produce a relatively light and compact cooling system which absorbs and transmits the heat to a uid flowing through at least a portion of the cooling system. It is a second object of the invention to produce a heat exchanger which is flexible and can be formed or placed around an object to control the ow of heat from the object into designated regions.

A conduit can be heated or cooled by passing a fluid through a flexible tube which has been Wound around the conduit. lf the tubing is convoluted or corrugated and the conduit has smooth cylindrical or rectangular surfaces, the rate of heat transfer between the tubing and conduit will be small because the contacting area between the conduit and the tubing is limited t a very small area on the outer periphery of each convolution or corrugation. VIf the conduit vibrates the life of the tubing will be short, because abrasion will take place at the small contacting surfaces between the tubing and the conduit. These two objections can be overcome by securing the tubing to a strip by brazing, soldering, or welding. The thermal conductivity between tubing and strip can be increased by increasing the cross-sectional area of the soldered or welded joints. It is therefore a third object of the invention to lform a exible thermal shield by brazing, soldering, or welding a'exible tube to a strip.

It is a fourth object of the invention to secure a ilexible metal hose with end ttings to a strip by brazing, soldering, or welding, so that the hose can form part of a uid circuit, while the assembly will have sufficient flexibility to wrap around a conduit.

It is a fifth object of the invention to increase the thermal conductivity between the exible tubing and strip by adding metal to the brazed, soldered or welded surfaces.

- The cross-sectional area between the iiexible tubing and ice strip can be further increased by flattening a portion of the outer periphery of the convolutions, or by substituting a exible rectangular conduit for the circular tubing and brazing, soldering, Vor welding one edge of each convolution to the strip. It is therefore a sixth object of the invention to braze, solder, or weld a rectangular fluid tight conduit which may be supplied with end fittings to a strip, so that the conduit can form part of a uid circuit and the combination of conduit and strip will have sulficient flexibility to permit it to be wrapped around another conduit or chamber and serve as a heat exchanger.

When the radiation from a heated object must be com pletely absorbed by the shield, the strips can be wound so that their edges are in contact throughout their length. When the cooling assembly must be self-supporting, the contacting edges can be formed to interlock and form a rigid assembly. It is therefore a seventh object of the invention to provide the strips with interlocking edges, so that when the assembly is coiled, the mating edges of the strips will interlock to form a self-supporting assembly of strips and fluid-tight tubing.

It is an eighth object of the invention to perforate the strip so that air can circulate or pass through the holes when the edges of the strip are fastened together.

It is a ninth object to form ridges on the strips in a manner to make an acute angle with the edges, so that when fluid-tight flexible tubing is secured to the strip the assembly can be used as a heat exchanger which allows air to circulate between the inner surface of t.-e heat exchanger and the conduit.

When a narrow strip is used to support the iiexible tu ing in the heat exchanger, the strip may not be wide enough to span the convolutions or corrugations of a conduit which has bellows type construction, so that the edges of the strip may drop below the outer periphery of the conduit and rub the sides or walls of the corrugations.

This can be prevented by making the width of the strip great enough to cover several convolutions and will in many cases require the ilexible hose to be coiled upon the strip to insure adequate cooling. The heat exchanger will then consist of a flexible wide strip or sheet having a width equal to the outer periphery of the conduit and a length which is determined by the service conditions, and to this sheet is secured a coiled flexible tubing, so that the unit can be bent around the conduit and the mating edges secured together. When the heat interchanger must have a more rugged construction and be capable of absorbing and dissipating heat at a rate which excludes the use of a thin flexible strip or sheet, the iexible features can still be maintained by pre-forming two or more thick sheets, so that their edges can be fastened together and the temperature of the sheets controlled by passing a fluid through either the flexible or rigid tubing which is attached to the sheets. Rigid tubingcan also be used with a ilexible sheet when the heat exchanger is bent around a cylindrically shaped conduit, provided the rigid tubing is -placed parallel to the axis of the conduit and the ends of the rigid lengths are joined together with flexible hose. It is therefore a tenth object of the invention to secure the flexible tubing to a sheet of metal which can be preformed and secured in place so that when fluid is passed through the tubing the combination of tubing and sheet.

can serve as a heat interchanger.

Fluids owing through a vibrating tube will undergo an acceleration with each fractional cycle of vibration and consequently this change in phase of the liquid with respect to the tube will serve to dampen the vibration.

Immeny. installations goodk thermal. .Conductivityjs not` required between the tubingnand the strip or sheet, and the'tubing can be mechanically held in AContact with the strip;l byiV staples; ywhich are z formed4 ins theistrfplszl'or.; by; screws; rivets, or.A twisted'Wires,- so-;that Yitffisfnott-necessary;- t'oxweldithe tubingtQ-.thegstripe Itsisfthereforge;aatwelfth. object: of Y the 1, invention f to;A form; a heat: interchanger: by; mechanically; fastening a--iiuid.tight conduit;toeaastrippor;`

metal plate` and. cooling thevstriptor platea-by-:tpassing-t. at

other housing operating ata: temperaturefdilring; Ifrom that of the walls. It istherefore asfourteenth object of the inventiontossecure'the sheets of the interchangers-tov Ythe Walls,V or to the supportinggenclosureg and-tocontrol thetemperature of the enclosure by passing afl'uid through the tubing -whi'chformsat least apart :of the-interchanger.

l't'is `a ifteenthy objectV of the ninvention -to fattach-thestubing tothe enclosing walls or other-sfupport'toucontrol they temperaturey thereof bythe fluid vpassing `through the tubing. v

In the drawings:

Fig-` l is a top plan View, partlyfinsection; of-allexible-` hose with end fittings attached'to asstrip, an'embodiment-A of ,the invention; Y

Fig; V2`is a side View, partly in section, ofa'portion V'of a' exio'le hose secured .to a strip, aV secondA embodiment; vFig. 3 is an isometric view of a portion ofa rectangular' conduit secured to' a` strip, a thirdlemb'odiment;

Fig..4 isa View, partly insection, ofexiblegtubingj interlocked' with a surroundedv` conduit', a fourthembodiment;

Fig.` 5 Vis a sectional view'ofatifth' embodiment;-

Fig. 6 is atop plan view ofthe tubing and 'strip of Fig; 5 as they appear before coiling;

Fig. 7"isV an isometric View of; the stripy of Fig. 6; with a legattached for contact with' the conduit;v Y

Fig. .8' is atop plan View, partly injsection,.of'another interlocking assembly; and

Fig. 9' is a sectional endview of the heat exchanger and conduit of Fig. 5'. f Y

in Figs. 1V and '2 theiexible hose or conduit 2 is secured, at the .point orarea of 'contact between the outerperipheryV of the convolutions. andthe strip 1; at. 5; Whengood thermalV conductivity Y is required between l'pand 2; Y the. outerperiphery of the convolutions' can be flattenedgover a' limited. extent of Ytheir circumference: andthe, flattened `partsecured to the strip, or additional metal addedjtothe;

` vicinity of the joined surfaces, to increase the cross-sectional' area of the joint. increased'by substituting the rectangular exible'conduit VfofFig. 3 for the circular hose 2 andsecuring the con- Vtacting'surfaces between 6 and lltogether.` The flexibility of the heat interchangerV isincreasedby decreasingthe number. of convolutions secured tothe strip. The greatest Y Y ilexib'ility is obtainedby fasteningjthefiiexilfh:l COIltllti to Y the strip with staples, twistedfwircs, or other mechanical attachments. The iittingratconnects the'tubingto the. .t'lid coolant circuit, and inmany, installations., the uid. cooiantwill be air or water.

The conductivity can be further.

K Y Y The, holes oropenings atY 4, permitsair to pass fromone. side of` the strip. to .theotheixv assioma 4g wrapped yaround a conduit 10. `One edge of the strip is turned over to form a U, or hook, atS, and the other Vedge forms the larger mating hook at 9. When the strip ing or soldering the compressed`seam at'9.` `Since the .XirFig 4 the hose 2, secured to strip 7, is coiledor;y 75

cooling uid is movingjthmugh they hose during each cycle of vibrationLthe forcesenertedrbyrthe fluid on the hose will be *out ofsphase'witlrth'e*externaltforces. The

A second methodofisecuring ythe-mating edges ofthe coiled strip'assembly is shown in Figs. 5 and. One side of strip 11 has a stud 12 which ts into the hole 13, Y

the latter being elongatedrto increase the probability that the stud and` hole will-match: when/the, radius;,of-;th e; con-` duitis, r: '1`ht =...rigi dity offthe,.sh ieldcan .he.iigicreasedll and theedgesiofthe. exchanger lockedtogetherf bg bendsr ing; or ilattening ,studs.12,. asgat 12'.. When; thesinstalla. tion is ofa temporaryl natur-etheredgestmaysbe.locked; together by .replacing the. ,studswith .turn..l:tucl 1es,VV cotterpins, onscrews;

The stripl 1,4vin.,Fig.-. 7. is: essentially-the,sameasgthe; strip l11- of Figs, 5 andtexcepltrfolithe legs-.15.. These., are punchedv fron1theE strip` orT attached at an. angle, a1pha, asindiCated in.Fig, 7,. which.angle can` have anyl value. between Yzero fandplusfon minus-one-half p i,. so4 ,that thee only contactingsurfaces;v between ,-strip1174 and,- the, .conduit on chamber. 10,.:is. through the. contactingsur.-y faces 15. of legs 15.. n Y' In Figs. v 8 and; 9.- thes sheets,` 16, 16 areV formed orf wrappednround thef conduits1-7 which may .have yasrnooth surface or an irregular one such astthatzoffa.-exibletubeY orebellows. When thick sheets are; required..,and thelheat exchangermust t around,A a1 small diameter conduit, itisl best to -prefform' at least twosections..and fasten them` together at their. mating ,jedges;12 ,I ltandv 12.15.1155.., Rigid tubinguZcanfbe usedin theassembly.v throughout,l or the exibility canbemaintained-.atright, angles to theftubinggA as indicatedA bythe arrows, bgvcapping the endsfof., the rigid4 tubing .v 2 y withfthegexible. endnzfittingsr-, 2f'. When-H it ispossible-to usematerialwhichtis thinenough to'bei` bent into shape, the: sheets can. be madein one. piecev and. joinedA together, at 1-2,..13. and, the. joints` 12.',4 13'. eliminated. Y

When the conduit. has .a. complext structurei or` amelativelyiextensive area, afplurahsheetor plural-section -ara` rangementmaybe resorted to,.in,whichjthe sheets may; f orm the,walls ofthe enclosure, andthe tubing .besecured thereto. The temperature. of the enclosure isfcontrolled'- by. circulating the coolantiuid, through/2, 2.', andzZf after.,

the fittings 19Y and,20are connected to` the.iuids.l1,l;lp ,1y;,` circuit. l n The .flexibility of the exchangerfis lirnitedihyf.thel hook-- shaped edgesinFig. 4 andthe raised .edges,in. Figs, 5 to 9. To offset this bothedges of thestrig canA have buttons-,12, and astripwith holesgon-,both .edgessimilar inshape tovv holes 13,Y may be woundaround to; engagei the studs,;,so. that ,the mating-edgeswill bel locked together.: by; the strip,

The word .secured Y soldering, or welding..

What I claim is: 1. A ,heat exchanger assembly,comprisingafpipe;.aat,g elongate vstripp-vof metallic materialof asthicknesssto Aim-v part inherent. iexibility, thereto`v helically wrapped@ about said pipe, an elongate conduit.. element. extending '-longif. tudinally and; coextensiyely; with, said t strip.V and rigidlyE xed in intimate contact to the outer-surfacerthereof,said; conduit .t being Vcorinigatedinv adirectionl. extending; gen- @rally transversely; of-isadstrinsnfas to,` be; loagitmlifx.:ally.4 expanded and to befflexedginithe.4 samedirectionf-"as is; the strip when the strip and conduit are wrappedasa: nait. about: said; nipeajconformity .withtheoutensurface wherever. used, embraces .brazingj thereof and with the undersurface of the strip in substantially full face-to-face contact with said pipe.

2. A heat exchanger assembly comprising a pipe, a at, elongate strip of metallic material of a thickness to impart inherent flexibility thereto helically Wrapped about said pipe, an elongate conduit element extending longitudinally and coextensively with said strip and rigidly fixed in intimate contact to the outer surface thereof, said conduit being corrugated in a direction extending generally transversely of said strip so as to be longitudinally expanded and to be excd in the same direction as is the strip when the strip and conduit are Wrapped as a unit about said pipe in conformity with the outer surface thereof and with the undersurface of the strip in substantially full face-to-face contact with said pipe, and said strip beingv wrapped about said pipe so as to have the opposite edges thereof disposed in overlapping relation, and said opposite edges being interlockingly engaged to hold said strip in engagement with said pipe.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,164,075 Dean Dec. 14, 1915 1,984,758 Owen Dec. 18, 1934 2,374,609 McCollum Apr. 24, 1945 2,446,289 Love et al. Aug. 3, 1948 2,471,317 Fausek et al May 24, 1949 2,621,900 Borg Dec. 16, 1952 2,642,897 Bell June 23, 1953 2,736,533 Allen Feb. 28, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,060,659 France Apr. 5, 1954 

